Secret Radar Stations in New Mexico, Part 1

A triangle of sensitive geographic areas and three secret experimental microwave radar stations. Construction begun in late 1947 of El Vado (AFS-P8), Moriarty (AFS-P7), and Continental Divide (AFS-P51). The three radar stations were part of the U. S. Aircraft Control and Warning (AC&W) system that also became known as LASHUP. One of El Vado's specific missions was to protect the Los Alamos Laboratory and the Atomic Energy Commission's atomic bomb production at Los Alamos and Sandia Base.

April 2, 2000 Santa Fe, New Mexico - The New Mexico legislature is in session and in February 2000 State Representative J. Andrew Kissner (Las Cruces, Dona Ana County) was successful in having a once-secret experimental microwave radar station at El Vado in Rio Arriba County north of Los Alamos added to the New Mexico State Historical Register. The importance of the El Vado radar site is underscored by the fact that its construction was specifically authorized by President Harry S. Truman himself.

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